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Space Cops, Faith and History in Green Lanterns 42

by Michael DeLaney

This article contains SPOILERS! If you haven’t read the issue, proceed at your own risk.

As much as I know about the DC Universe, it is a BIG place full of characters and worlds that have still not entered the pages of my brain encyclopedia. If you’re a fan of those Easter eggs and nods to DC lore, then Green Lanterns 42 is what you are looking for. Mentions of “Khundians,” “Durlans” or “Omega Men” appear throughout the issue in a way that is not distracting but simply supports the narrative.

In this way and so many others, Tim Seeley is doing Green Lanterns right. He is using the vast range of the DCU to help grow the main characters of Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz. Green Lanterns are typically criticized for focusing too much on Earth — both in-story and out.

The “Inhuman Trafficking” arc of Green Lanterns alone is an example of balance that Seeley brings to the title: a problem begins on Earth that leads the Lanterns to other planets that they — and many readers — may not be familiar with.

These aren’t rebooted Hal Jordans encountering an old planet for “the first time,” these are characters who are as new to the DCU as we may be.

Another thing to give Seeley credit for is making Baz and Cruz the space cops that Green Lanterns are meant to be. They refer to the mystery of the missing Earth heroes as a “case” because that’s what it is.

We follow them down the rabbit hole of a missing persons case that takes them to the criminal underworld and finally to a planet with a religion based on order, chaos and…slavery.

Green Lanterns 42 alone takes on quite the journey both intrinsically and externally. It manages to address the ideas of religious institutions, personal faith, cultural customs and the legality therein.

It’s an impressive chapter that doesn’t feel exhausting.

The conversation doesn’t stop there. What do you wanna talk about from this issue?